My Plantcentric Journey

Posts tagged ‘Isa Markowitz’

I know we’re in the middle of a heat wave, but sometimes all you have in the house are beans and cans of tomatoes and a bunch of spices. That’s what happened to me, so last night I went to my trusty Isa Does It cookbook by Isa Moskowitz and found a recipe I hadn’t tried yet. I had enough of the ingredients to make my own version. Here is Isa making it:

As you know, I believe in using what you have. I used leftover lentils I had in the fridge, I cooked up some dried Adzuki beans, and since I didn’t have any fresh jalapenos, I used a can of Rotel tomatoes with chilis. Of course, I didn’t use the oil. Instead, I just swapped it out with vegetable broth. My husband couldn’t stop eating this. He says it’s the blending of the savory flavors that make it the best chili he has ever tasted!

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Today, since I still haven’t gone grocery shopping, I made Red Lentil Thai Chili from Isa Does it. I had made it before and knew it was fantastic, because I always date the page in the cookbook when I make it and write a few notes about what swaps I did and how we liked it. (Don’t want to remake any duds!)

Isa’s recipe is here: http://www.theppk.com/2010/12/red-lentil-thai-chili . I, of course, changed it. As always, I didn’t use the oil. Instead I used vegetable broth. I didn’t have red lentils, but I did have leftover green lentils. (How much do the colors really matter anyway?) I also was out of onions, red bell pepper, and cilantro, so I just omitted them. Instead of kidney beans, I cooked up some Adzuki beans. As a swap for lite coconut milk, I just used unsweetened soy milk with coconut extract mixed in it. Delicious!

UPDATE: Now, my husband says THIS recipe is his favorite! When I pressed him, he admitted that between the two, his favorite is the one that is in front of him at the time!